During an outing, three colleagues were roaming together in a Jungle. They were happy, appreciated the beauty of the Jungle and the calmness around. Unexpectedly, they encountered a hungry Tiger. When they realized they were in grave danger, they immediately prepared for the next as follows:
- The first colleague aggressively picked up a stick to fight.
- The second one tightened his shoelaces to run.
- The third one came up with a bold plan to scare the tiger.
The first colleague wanted to jump right on the tiger and fight alone; probably, he thought the tiger must be feeling weak due to hunger, or maybe he can defeat the tiger as he won against his cat several times. The second colleague thought of running faster than the other two, as he can never run faster than the tiger. He was planning his escape by making one of the other colleagues the tiger’s meal.
Whereas the third colleague was planning the survival of everyone through teamwork. He said, “We won’t fight or run, we will stand still, will keep staring at the tiger for a few minutes, and then we will charge on him together. Predators don’t expect their prey to charge them back, and we are three for it. When we three charge shoulder to shoulder, we will look bigger than the tiger and probably enough to scare the beast.”
The first colleague said, “I can fight and kill the tiger by my stick and don’t need any help.”
The second colleague said, “I know I can run faster than you guys, so my survival chance is very bright. You guys will have a 50-50 chance, and I don’t care about anyone else.” The second colleague started running, leaving his two colleagues behind.
While the first colleague was getting ready to fight the tiger, the third colleague indicated the first to stay calm and standstill. He said, “Our colleague just thought he could run faster than us, but did not assess the case that he could be the only one running.”
The predator’s instinct is to chase the prey, and the tiger pounced on the second colleague after an easy chase; the other two colleagues survived the unexpected danger.
Moral of the Story:
- Some fights are not worth fighting alone. Fighting alone makes sense if there is no one with you.
- The dumbest person is one who thinks he is the smartest. If you feel you are the most intelligent person in the room or on the team, reconsider your thoughts.
- Running away from problems only makes them more severe, and one day it will hunt you down. Face the problem.
- Teamwork increases the chances of both survival and success.
- Listen to the person who speaks beyond himself. Thinking about others is a leadership trait.